1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus which includes a tray for setting a printing medium thereon, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus which performs an initialization process upon turning on the printing apparatus and a tray control method of the same.
2. Related Art
In recent years, photograph data obtained by a digital camera or image (moving picture) data and voice data obtained by a video camera have been generally written in an optical disk to be stored therein. For example, JP-A-2005-59584 discloses a printer which is capable of printing a title, an image, or the like on a label surface of the optical disk so as to promptly understand the contents of the images or photographs stored in the optical disk. The printer includes a tray which sets the optical disk thereon, and the tray is adapted to move in such a manner that a transport roller rotates by nipping the tray. Also, JP-A-2005-59584 discloses a technology for protecting the disk in such a manner that the transport roller nips the disk placed on the tray.
In the printer disclosed in JP-A-2005-59584, when a push signal (power-on signal) of a power switch (power SW) is input in a power-off state, a current position of the tray is determined. When the current position of the tray is an accommodation position or a front end portion adjusting position (standby position), the tray moves to a discharge position. On the other hand, when the current position of the tray is the discharge position, the tray moves to the accommodation position in the case where the disk does not exist on the tray, and the tray moves to the front end portion adjusting position in the case where the disk exists on the tray. In addition, when the push signal of the power switch is input in a power-on state, it is determined whether the disk (media) exists on the tray. The tray moves to the accommodation position in the case where the disk does not exist on the tray. On the other hand, the tray moves to the front end portion adjusting position (standby position) in the case where the disk exists on the tray.
Further, JP-A-H05-212932 discloses a printer (video color printer) which includes a tray for placing a printing sheet thereon. In the printer, when the printing sheet does not exist on the tray after a system initialization, a motor is driven so as to move the tray to the outside of the printer. When the printing sheets are stacked in the tray, the tray is accommodated in the printer. In addition, when a printing process ends, the tray moves to the outside of the printer.
Furthermore, in the printer or the like, a mechanical initialization process is performed upon performing a power-on process, and a mechanical end process is performed upon performing a power-off process. For example, JP-A-2000-99214 discloses a printer which stores a result of a precedent power-off process in an EEPROM and controls an initialization process in accordance with the result of the precedent power-off process upon turning on the printer at the next time. In detail, when the power-off process is not normally performed, an abnormal end (NG) is set to an end flag showing the result of the power-off process. When a cap is empty, an operation of moving a carriage to a home position and an operation of closing the cap are performed. When the operations are normally performed, the end flag is reset (OK). In addition, in the case where the power-off process of the printer is normally performed and the power-on process thereof is performed, when the end flag is reset (OK), the printer becomes a printing activation state by skipping the initialization process.
However, in the mechanical initialization process performed upon turning on the printer, as in JP-A-H05-212932, a reset operation such as a home seek process is performed which moves a moving member such as a carriage in a movement path thereof so as to return the moving member to an original point.
Additionally, in order to decrease the size of the printer, it is necessary to decrease the size of the tray and the accommodation space thereof. In this case, when the disk is placed on the tray and the tray is accommodated in the printer, a problem may arise in that the carriage or printing head interferes with the tray or the disk upon performing the mechanical initialization process such as the home seek process of the carriage due to a part of the disk or tray existing on the movement path of the carriage or the like. In this case, when the power-on operation is performed, the existence of the disk on the tray is detected. In the case where the disk exists on the tray, it is necessary to adopt a configuration in which a user is prompted to extract the disk from the tray by moving the tray to the discharge position (media set position or the like). In this case, when the user performs the power-off operation in the state where the tray having the disk placed thereon is located at the discharge position, it is not possible to control the position of the carriage, the tray, or the like since the mechanical initialization process is not performed, and thus it is not possible to perform the mechanical end process. For this reason, the power supply is interrupted in the state where tray is located at the discharge position.
However, when the tray is located at the discharge position for a long period of time after the power supply is interrupted, a large moment load of the tray is applied to a pair of transport rollers since a base portion of the tray located at the discharge position is supported by being nipped by the pair of transport rollers. In addition, a shaft of the transport roller is bent in a curved shape or a peripheral surface of the transport roller nipping the tray is deformed due to the load of the tray. Further, when the excessive load is continuously applied to the transport roller for a long period of time, particularly, the upper transport driven roller receiving the large load is slightly deformed or bent, which causes a problem that an appropriate transport operation cannot be performed.